Sowing more seeds for sustainable pig production
The EU-funded PIGWEB project is providing academic and private researchers free access to first-rate pig research installations across Europe in an easy and transparent way. Following the success of its first two calls for proposals, it launched its third and final call in September 2023. For this third call, 26 experimental pig research installations will be made available for transnational access (TNA). These include experimental pig farms, feed mills, different pig breeds and lines, nursery and gestation barns, calorimeters, metabolic cages, abattoirs, computed tomography imaging units and bone density scanners, as well as a variety of research units and labs. Aided by the PIGWEB partners’ scientific facilities, tools and expertise, successful applicants will be able to address issues relating to animal welfare, environmental impact, resource utilisation, and production and product quality.
One, two
In the first and second TNA calls launched in September 2021 and 2022, 48 proposals were submitted overall. “A wide range of research topics were addressed, with a strong interest in performance, emissions, calorimetry, respirometry, feed production, and genome and transcriptome analysis,” reports a news item posted on ‘pig.333.com’. The 19 proposals selected for TNA – seven from the first call and 12 from the second – account for 67 % of the total TNA budget. The first two calls’ successful TNA applicants came from various countries in Europe and beyond, including Belgium, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Israel, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. “A total of 20 different TNA installations will be used to address the proposed research questions in the selected projects. Most projects use only one experimental installation, while five projects combine the expertise of two or three,” the news item explains.
And now three
Applications for the first stage of the final call will be open until 1 December 2023. The outcome of the first stage selection will be announced on 22 December, following which successful applicants will have to submit their second stage proposals by 31 March 2024. The results of the second stage selection will be revealed about 2 months later, on 24 May. Detailed information on the available installations, eligibility criteria and procedures to follow are available on the project website. Increasing access to research facilities is not the only way in which PIGWEB (An infrastructure for experimental research for sustainable pig production) has been promoting sustainable pig production since its launch in 2021. Its most recent initiatives include a summer school on responsible animal experimentation in pig research held in Germany in April 2023. In August of the same year, it hosted a roundtable discussion at the EAAP conference held in France, on the topic: ‘Is there a future for experimental animal research in Europe and, if so, what is it?’ For more information, please see: PIGWEB project website
Keywords
PIGWEB, pig, calls for proposal, research, transnational access, research installation, research facility
